I'm Back BB
by ragdolljazz
Summary: When Tom left for America he left the Casson's in a dark place. Can anything bring them out of it? Or anyONE?


This was written a long time ago, and it's been a while since I've read the books but I thought I'd post it here to see what you guys think of it :)

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Weeks went by, and neither Indigo nor Rose nor any of the other Casson's had heard a word from Tom. Indigo distracted himself by going to the skateboard park nearly every day with David, and spending the rest of the time in his room, playing Tom's old guitar. Occasionally things would get too much for him and he would cry softly, trying not to let anyone know. Especially not Rose.

Rose was taking the disappearance of Tom especially hard, and was inconsolable for the first few weeks. She had stopped crying eventually, but she wasn't the bright Rose they once knew. She would barely talk to anyone, and wouldn't eat very much, no matter what Indigo made for her. Everyone whispered to each other when they thought she wasn't listening that she was taking this awfully hard, and that she was broken-hearted about Tom leaving. At this point she would whirl round and snap at them that she wasn't broken-hearted about anything, and that she was taking this awfully _fine_ thank you very much, and why weren't they talking about Indigo, he wasn't taking it very well either.

"Rosey-Pose, Indigo didn't lose someone he loved as much as you did..." Caddie began before Rose cut her off.

"I'm not in _love_ thank you very much! He was just my friend!" She snapped. "And just leave me alone, all of you! I'm _sick_ of you! I'm sick of _everything_! She ran to her room and slammed the door, her huge sobs obvious to everyone in the house. Eve mumbled that she was going to the shed, trying to escape the awkwardness in the house.

Indigo loped down the stairs, avoiding eye contact with everyone, trying to hide his red eyes. He grabbed his skateboard from the muddled pile of stuff by the door and shoved on the first pair of sneakers he could find. All of a sudden the door opened quickly, knocking Indigo down onto a tennis racket and a box of golf balls. Sarah wheeled partially in, and blocked the doorway with her chair.

"Indy, you are _not_ leaving this house." She commanded, her tone very serious. "You can hear Rose from outside, and you are _not_ leaving her like that!"

"I wasn't going to leave." Indigo lied, a habit he had been getting into over the summer. "I was just... Going to play golf! In the backyard... After talking to Rose." He quailed underneath Sarah's glare.

"Golf? With a tennis racket I presume?"

Indigo looked at his hand, and sure enough, he was holding the tennis racket; his knuckles clenched white around it. Sarah noticed this and raised her eyebrows as he blushed and let go of the racket he was holding so tightly but she said nothing. He stood up, feeling slightly better as he stood, but he still felt like curling into a ball and disappearing.

"Hey everyone." Sarah said eventually, rolling out of the doorway and into the kitchen where the rest of the Casson's were waiting for her.

"Hey." Was the unanimous response, so synchronised it sounded rehearsed.

"Saffy, want to go downtown and shop?"

"Sure, it beats staying around here." Saffron jumped up from her chair and grabbed the handles on Sarah's wheelchair and began to push her outside.

Soon enough it was only Indigo, Caddy and Bill in the room.

"Well, I best be going, don't want to keep Samantha waiting. And of course I have several things to do before my big art gala next weekend." He paused hopefully, waiting for someone to wish him luck. Nobody did; nobody even heard him, Caddy was staring at Indigo reproachfully and Indigo was tuning out of their world, into his own.

"Indigo, are you going up to talk to Rose or not?" Caddy blurted out, "Because you always expect _us_ to act decently, but you're acting like a _pig_!"

Indigo's head jerked back as if she had slapped him. He knew they had been thinking it all summer, but Caddy was the only one to actually say it out loud. His eyes welled up with tears and he suddenly felt ashamed of himself. He walked up to Rose's room and knocked on her door, listening to the snuffles that meant the huge crying spell was over.

"Rose?" He asked quietly, opening the door slowly. He saw her sitting on her bed, hugging a piece of paper with one of the thousands of pictures she had drawn of Tom over the summer close to her chest. She looked up at Indigo with wide, red eyes, her eyes showing how much pain she was in; not only had she lost her best friend that summer, but she had also lost her big brother.

Indigo took one look at this broken girl and burst into tears openly, for the first time since that horrendous night when Tom left. Rose left the bed and went over to Indigo and hugged him tightly, her own tears mixing with his. They sat there in mutual anguish over their lost friend as the world went on without them. Eventually they stopped crying and sat down on Rose's bed, trying to cheer each other up with different stories of Tom.

"Remember when he outlined David on the wall at school?" Indigo smiled.

"And when he sat for ages letting me draw him just right on my painting on the wall!"

"_And_ when he dragged me up onto the roof of the library!"

"And he would sit for ages in the music shop playing that black guitar!"

"And when I found him on the roof of the school that afternoon," Indigo said, tears forming in his eyes again. "And we spent the entire night renaming the stars?"

Rose reached over to Indigo and hugged him once more, sensing that he needed one again, and she was perfectly happy to give it. He wrapped his arms around his little sister half-heartedly; going off into a dream of what it might have been like if Tom was still around.

"Indy, do you think Tom will ever come back?" Rose whispered.

"Of course he will Rosey-Pose, I have his guitar, remember?" He smiled back, referring to the old Spanish guitar that had gotten fixed that summer after nearly being destroyed by Rose.

"Indy, remember when you jumped into the gang of bullies and started fighting them because you thought they were attacking me?" Rose asked Indigo quietly, hoping to give Indigo a confidence boost; and desperately hoping for one in return.

"Yeah, of course I do," He smiled, "And remember when you ran all the way to the music store to try to get his guitar fixed when you glued everything together and messed everything up? He asked teasingly, his voice getting smaller and smaller as he thought back to the day he had tried to forget for weeks and weeks; the day that he knew he would never get over.

"Indy?" Rose asked anxiously, not understanding why he was so quiet all of a sudden. "Indy? Are you all right?"

Indigo shook his head to dispel his thoughts and smiled at her.

"I'm fine Rosey-Pose. Do you want me to teach you how to skateboard?"

"I already _know_ how." She lied, trying to appear tough. But the smirk Indigo gave her made her reconsider his offer. "But you know, I could always perfect my style..." She grinned sheepishly.

Indigo jumped up, eager to start, and eager to have a project to keep his mind off Tom.

"Okay Rose, let's start at the skateboard park, if you start with the tough stuff, the easy stuff will be a cinch! That's how _I_ learnt!" He grinned, already happier with the prospect of skateboarding _and_ spending time with Rose.

"What? Right now?" Rose asked, a little taken aback at the suddenness of everything.

"Of course! No time like the present!"

"But I don't even know how to balance!"

"You'll learn soon enough. Besides," Indigo grinned, pushing Rose out her door and down the stairs, "balance isn't your main worry when hurtling down a slope with no way to stop!"

Rose paled, and dug her heels into the floor and grabbed onto a doorway, refusing to go any further. Despite Rose's relative smallness, a lack of upper body strength meant that Indigo couldn't push her any further. The doorbell rang, but still Rose refused to move. Indigo sighed wearily.

"Rose, I have to get the door."

Rose eventually let go of the doorway and let Indigo pass, who ran right to the door, frowning in annoyance at the fact that the person seemed to be leaning on the doorbell. He opened the door slowly and completely froze in shock as a familiar voice floated through the crack.

"Honestly, it took you long enough..." A voice with a certain New York accent, the voice possibly belonging to a certain friend who went to America weeks earlier. Indigo's heart started beating really fast, and he felt almost like he was going to have a heart attack.

"Who's at the door?" Rose called to Indigo, still standing by the stairs, unable to see the door.

The person on the other side of the door pushed it open all the way, annoyed at all the waiting.

"Honestly, I can't say I'm impressed with the way you treat visitors around here." The person grinned, throwing a ball to the other side of the room, where it was visible to Rose from her spot at the stairs. She gasped a little as she recognised the accuracy of the throw and the familiar red colour. She ran to the door and latched on to the person, bursting into tears.

"Woah now Permanent Rose, no need to get so emotional. I just came back to check and see how Indigo was taking care of my guitar." He joked, grinning ear to ear as he looked at Indigo. "Now don't tell me you've forgotten you old pal Tom so quickly!"

At which point Indigo promptly burst into tears as well, and joined Rose in hugging this miraculous appearance.

"Hey now, I missed you guys too but I still need to breathe!" Tom laughed, but hugging the siblings back all the same.

"Shut up." Rose mumbled into his shirt, clutching him even tighter.

Tom just laughed cheerfully and walked into the house (with some difficulty, seeing as he had two decent-sized people slinging onto him), shutting the door behind himself. He grins and plans to reacquaint himself with his friends once they stop washing his shirt with their tears. He smiles to himself and simply thinks, _it's good to be back._


End file.
